Industry Urges Congress to Fix America’s Air-Travel Woes

The travel industry is at a critical juncture: Air-travel demand is rising at a record pace, but we are woefully ill-equipped to handle it, U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Geoff Freeman told the media yesterday via Zoom. America’s air-travel system has been plagued by “years of federal underinvestment.” 

High travel volume this summer will be a stress test and, hopefully, a wake-up call for policymakers, he said. And there’s no avoiding it: “What's going to happen this summer is already baked in. We can't change it at this point.” However, Freeman stressed, with the reauthorization of the FAA expected this fall, “Congress has an opportunity to make critical investments now to ensure our air-travel system can meet demand for the future, and ensure that our economy can continue to grow.”

By many measures, travel is on a very promising trajectory: Overall travel spending, at $1.2 trillion, has recovered fully to prepandemic levels as of the year of 2022, per U.S. Travel, largely driven by leisure-travel demand. Business travel still hovers around 80 percent of pre-Covid levels, and international inbound traveler spending was back only 55 percent last year. With much-needed improvements, travel spending could — and should — far exceed current numbers.

One major hindrance should be resolved soon. Bill HR 185, which would end the Covid vaccine mandate for international visitors, is poised to pass, Freeman revealed in a Q&A with the press. “We are optimistic that the vaccine requirement goes away on May 11,” he said, adding, however, “that is not fully confirmed.” The bill has passed in the House and is pending Senate approval. “But we don't think we can eliminate this requirement soon enough,” said Freeman.

Air-travel woes stem from federal underfunding

The U.S. air-travel system suffers from chronic underfunding of aviation infrastructure and technology, and inadequate numbers of air-traffic controllers, customs officers, pilots and other critical aviation workers, said Freeman. For example, “we have 1,200 fewer air-traffic controllers today than we had 10 years ago,” he noted. Staffing shortages could increase delays at New York airports by 45 percent this summer, the FAA estimates, creating a ripple-effect nationwide. 

Rather than prepping for an influx of flyers, the FAA has asked airlines to pull back slots at New York and Washington, D.C., airports this summer due to the shortage of air-traffic controllers. 

Meanwhile, other countries have invested heavily in travel infrastructure. “Half of the world's 10 busiest airports are in the United States, but only one U.S. airport — Seattle-Tacoma International — cracks the top 20 [at number 18] in the World's Best Airport rankings by Skytrax,” Freeman noted. “Without serious investment, we could lose visitors to countries that are better equipped to welcome them.”

We’re losing inbound international visitors

International travel continues to lag; arrivals this year are expected to be about 79 percent of 2019 levels. Among the barriers are yearlong waits for first-time visitor visa applicants in key markets, and fierce competition from other markets. 

Getting here is half the battle. “Upon arrival, visitors are increasingly experiencing excruciating lines at Customs and Border Protection points of entry,” said Freeman. “If international visitors are forced to wait two to three hours in line, they may think twice about coming back — and they will certainly go home and spread that story."

These problems prevent would-be attendees from participating in major U.S. events like the Consumer Electronics Show, the American Dental Association’ SmileCon and the International Builders’ Show. Organizers of these and other major shows are seeing a 10 to 20 percent decline in international attendees, said Freeman. “What’s so interesting is people think of it as a travel industry problem. But it's actually a consumer electronics problem. It’s a dental industry problem. It's a home builders’ problem,” he added. “These industries are struggling because of the unacceptable visa wait times we have right now. We've had visa wait times of 500, 600, even 800 days in some of these markets. There's absolutely no justification for that poor level of service."

Industry to FAA: How to fix the system

The expiration of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 on Sept. 30 presents an opportunity to set change in motion. In March, U.S. Travel met with the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee to present recommendations. Just last week, industry leaders descended on the nation’s capital for U.S. Travel’s Destination Capitol Hill fly-in event, said a spokesperson for the association. U.S. Travel members held 260 meetings on Capitol Hill to lobby for FAA recommendations among other issues. 

Specifically, U.S. Travel has asked Congress to include the following in its plans for the reauthorization of the FAA:

• Provide at least $50 million per year for aviation workforce-development programs to increase the supply of qualified pilots and mechanics. 
• Devote $4 billion in funding for air-traffic control infrastructure and technology, plus the funds to hire 1,800 new air-traffic controllers per year over the next three years. 
• Earmark at least $4 million per year for airport improvement and enable medium and large airports to keep more of their grant funding. 

What if travel weren’t such a hassle?

Although domestic leisure-travel demand is high and growing, it could be a lot higher if these woes were alleviated, research confirms. More than half of Americans would take more leisure trips in the next six months if the experience weren’t such a hassle, according to the latest quarterly report on consumer-travel trends conducted by Ipsos for U.S. Travel.

Forty-two percent of the 1,372 respondents traveled by air for leisure in the past 12 months; of those, 35 percent reported flight delays or cancellations. Fewer than one-third of U.S. air travelers are “very satisfied” with their recent experiences. 

“We're all predicting summer travel problems, and yet people in the policy-making space don't necessarily make the connection to exactly what they do every day,” Freeman added. “We can solve for these problems. We can give people a better experience. And I think travelers should demand a better experience.”